Category: General
Batteries in phones are still a massive weak point in mobile phones and in Bristol they’ve started to really take the p*** with their new invention – a charger powered by urine. It all works by using microbial fuel cells which, when peed on, produces enough charge to …
You know all about the HTC One Mini by now. As a Coolsmartphone reader you’ll have already seen our hands-on pictures and videos, but what you might not know yet is that it’ll be hitting both the EE and O2 network too. We’ve just had confirmation that the …
Samsung seem to be attempting to get into the Guinness Book Of Records for “the largest number of screen sizes in their portfolio” record with a different phone for each and every increment from 3″ up to 11″. Nokia increasingly seem to be heading off down that worrying …
The Asus / Google Nexus 7 is probably the most successful Android tablet ever. It has become the one tablet I actually pick up every day and actually use, rather than just dust off and recharge, like my Surface RT. Google have historically updated their devices annually and …
Google Glass, yes we have to mention them in this article. It’s basically a pair of glasses you stick on your face and, visa a magical miniature screen, you get helpful bits of information fed into your vision as you go about your daily life. But wait, there’s …
At what point in history did the camera become the most important on a new smartphones spec sheet? Don’t get me wrong here, I love a decent camera phone, but increasingly I’m seeing manufacturers chase the “best camera ever” type of tagline and other specs or form factors …
The Nokia Lumia 620 is a great phone, I really liked it, apart from the fact it was just a bit too small for me (I reviewed it here). In answer to many similar reactions to the Lumia 620 it seems Nokia are going to make a bigger …
While the Optimus G Pro (we mentioned here) has been available since February in LG’s home country of Korea, it has made a slow but steady march out to other countries around the world and is ready to reach a whole lot more in Q3. LG is announcing …
It’s an MVNO that almost needs no introduction – giffgaff. They’re known for unlimited data, bargain-basement prices and no-frills SIM-only goodybags. However, they still don’t sell phones. If you want a phone, you need to go and grab a SIM-free handset yourself and then get a giffgaff SIM …
As I’ve mentioned earlier I’ve switched networks recently and, whilst looking around, I checked into my usage habits. Streaming. That’s a big one. I love TuneIn because, put simply, every single station I find on FM radio is very samey and full of similar-sounding DJ’s saying similar-sounding things. …
We’ve covered a number of virtual network operators recently but perhaps the most well known is giffgaff. Sure, let’s be upfront, they’ve had a couple of bumps in the road with outages and the fact that a small selection of customers abused their “unlimited” data packages, but what …
Overnight it looks like the Google Play store has been updated to match the look and feel of their latest Android phone and tablet app. We’ve all used the new-look app on Android got a while now. We saw a sneak peek at this new design back at …
Don’t worry, this is not a cry for help from the impoverished staff here at CoolSmartPhone! Continuing in our irregular series of articles about MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) we turn our gaze to charities. There has been such a large uptake of mobile phone usage in the …
Blimey, this was quick! So HTC announced this morning that the 4.2.2 update for the HTC One was being rolled out to the UK today, and now Three have tweeted the same for their phones. I think that’s one of the quickest updates from a carrier so …
What do you want from your smartphone? The answer to the above question is different for every single smartphone user but there is are some common trends. Decent battery life, a wonderfully bright screen, a one thousand megapixel camera, a full qwerty keyboard and so on and on. …
The HTC One Mini could possibly be the one to revitalise the fortunes of HTC. People do like a smaller cheaper version of a well known flagship. At first we thought that the HTC One Mini was going to be very similar spec wise to the One, but …
WhatsApp is one of the worlds most popular apps for messaging over data networks, yet the Windows Phone 8 version has been lacking, and a little flaky recently. Luckily it’s now had an update to address all of that. I message via WhatsApp on a daily basis, without …
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is a gorgeous bit of kit that will survive a dunk in a bath, but it’s far less likely to survive a drop on the floor. This is why any owner should be looking at cases. I have a couple of cases that …
Security. It’s something that concerns all of us. Just recently I went away on holiday and we left our cat in the house with someone popping in to feed her. Call me daft, but I wanted to keep an eye on the cat, the house and just ensure …
The updated Google Maps has finally appeared on the Play Store. Featuring the new stripped down UI first featured on the iPhone, it’s quite a change from the previous Android versions which were fairly Chrome heavy. There are also a number of other changes. UI The new UI …
Coorrr… Topless and exposed. Yes, it’s a phone case. This one is from a company called Dog and Bone cases, and it’s apparently a world-first topless waterproof rugged mobile phone case with an exposed touch screen. There’s even a patent pending on the waterproof technology that basically uses …
BlackBerry had their hopes pinned on the latest version of BB10. The new touch sensitive version of their messaging centric ecosystem was meant to be the answer to all of their woes. Things aren’t going to plan for them though, with sales and profits not exactly astounding. In …
Global leader in flash memory storage solutions, and memory manufacturer SanDisk has a new product in their line of microSD cards, the SanDisk Extreme microSDHC and microSDXC UHS-I cards. These cards have been designed for users who need fast storage for their smart phone, tablet or camera, the …
Yes it’s true. Many have realised it. First it was those £35 per month plans that never seen to work out at £35 when the bill comes in, and now Vodafone is causing quite a stir by switching to per minute billing. It’s a practice already employed by …
When I got my Nokia Lumia 925 I was worried, worried about the metal sides of the phone, metal tends to scratch and lo and behold within minutes I had a tiny nick on the edge. I set about trying to find a case and barely anything existed. …
AT&T the US carrier was first to get hold of Samsung’s ruggedized, waterproof Galaxy S4 Active late last month. But now independent retailer Unlocked-Mobiles is stocking the Active in the U.K. today, priced at £494.98 — a little less than the average asking price for the regular GS4. So …
We’ve been having a poke around the Vodafone blog recently. We’ve done this mainly because they stuck £4000 in our hands and told us too*, but there’s some pretty interesting posts about the future of smartphones and the networks they run on. In this post the Vodafone UIK …
You knew that already? Yes maybe, but Clove have been taking orders for the Smartwatch 2 with an expected delivery date of July 15th. Many of you placed your orders, but this morning the following email arrived from Clove Sales which slightly tweaks expectations.. We contact you today …
That yellow thing in the sky has finally popped out of the clouds. The result, if you get a pair of headphones like this, could be a fully charged battery for your smartphone. Stick these on your head and the solar panel located in the headband will provide …
Navigation experts Garmin have announced what I think is the coolest add on to your smartphones navigation app.This small HUD (Heads-Up Display) unit connects to your smart phone via Bluetooth, and beams pertinent navigation information on to a small screen attached to your car windshield or to an included …
It is very nearly time for the Nokia Lumia 1020 to rear its head and end all of the rumours. On Thursday in New York Nokia will unveil their next Windows Phone flagship and in true 2013 style pretty much all of the details have already leaked out. …
Back in February ZTE and NVIDIA announced a partnership to make the Chinese manufacturer the first to bring Tegra 4 phones to market this year. Rumors and leaked images (shown above) have surfaced and if they are to be believed, then ZTE as expected is set to launch the …
Are you a user of that small and some what unknown Social Media Site Facebook. Well the Facebook for Android App has an update yesterday evening, bringing all the features from the last beta to the current stable version (that’d be 3.4). The biggest feature is for users …
Shortly after getting the Sony Xperia Z I decided that it just felt a little too delicate for my liking. I wasn’t happy taking it out until I had a case. The nice glass backplate of the Xperia Z shouldn’t be covered up really, so I looked for …
What do you use your smartphone for? Well, if you’re anything like me it’ll probably be to check Twitter and Facebook, perhaps the odd email. You may do some browsing and you may even upload photos to the web. However, why not use it for making money? In …
So there’s someone at the door. You don’t really want to answer the door, but you want to know who it is. Sure, you could hide down in the hall, crawling along on your belly, trying to get a look at the person. This, this is pretty cool. …
Invites to LG’s latest event have started to arrive in people’s inboxes, it’s covered with the letter G and the number 2. That can only mean one thing, and it happens to be the thing every LG fan on the Internet is waiting for — Optimus G2 Flagship …
Remember this link where we reported that the next version of the Sony Smart Watch is available for pre order with a delivery date of September. The Web site Clove have announced that there are expecting stock on 15th July. The watch can be pre-ordered here from Clove …
In a time when networks are in the news for putting up prices here in the UK, one network is going the other way and offering even better value than they did before. Three have knocked down the price of their “One Plan” 12 month SIM-only to just …
A rather nondescript envelope arrived at my house at the weekend. Now it had been a good night on the Saturday to say the least so I had forgotten arranging this delivery. With some trepidation as to what I may have bought in a Corona fueled haze I …
